Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has approved a 50% increase in tariff rates for telecom services. This decision follows a request from operators, who had initially proposed a 100% hike to address mounting operational costs.
The NCC stated that the tariff adjustment, the first since 2013, aims to bridge the gap between increasing operational expenses and revenue while maintaining service quality. The regulator noted that the approval was made with consideration for ongoing industry reforms to ensure long-term sustainability.
The decision comes as Nigeria faces economic challenges, including high inflation driven by currency devaluation and subsidy removal policies implemented by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. Although inflation began to stabilize mid-2024, subsequent petrol price hikes reignited cost pressures, further straining businesses.
The NCC emphasized that the tariff increase reflects the economic realities affecting the telecommunications sector, ensuring that operators can continue delivering reliable services without compromising quality.
Nigeria’s mobile market
Nigeria has the largest mobile market in Africa, with nearly 140 million mobile subscriptions recorded by the end of 2024, according to statistics from the market research firm Omdia. This figure reflects a decline over the past two years due to the deactivation of millions of unregistered SIM cards to comply with regulatory requirements.
In comparison, Egypt had 128.5 million mobile subscriptions in 2024, South Africa had approximately 114 million, Ethiopia had around 88 million, Ghana had about 39 million, and Kenya surpassed 69 million subscriptions by the end of last year. Omdia forecasts that Nigeria will exceed 292 million mobile subscriptions by 2029. The Nigerian mobile market is served by four major operators.
The largest operator is MTN, with an estimated 78.1 million mobile users at the end of 2024. Airtel follows with 52.1 million users, Glo Mobile has nearly 8.6 million, and 9Mobile accounts for just 1.1 million users, according to Omdia’s market intelligence.
In his third round of ministerial appointments, President john Dramani Mahama has nominated Samuel Nartey George (MP) to head the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations.
This is contained in a statement issued and signed by the Spokesperson of the President Felix Ofosu Kwakye on Tuesday (21 January).
The nomination of the former Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Communications Committee, follows weeks of speculation about who will become the sector minister for the critical telecommunications sector.
The Road Ahead
When confirmed as Minister of Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations, Sam George is expected to lead initiatives that will drive Ghana’s digital transformation. Key priorities will likely include:
Building a conducive and supportive policy and regulatory environment.
Championing the review of the tax regime especially as it pertains to smartphones, industry-specific taxes, VAT and levies on imported services among others.
Championing the protection of industry infrastructure.
Implementation of measures to reduce the cost of doing business and ease of doing business in the telecommunications industry.
Tackling the indebtedness of government to industry players.
Etc.
Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications congratulates Samuel Nartey George
The leadership of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, having worked with the former Deputy Ranking Member, has congratulated him and expressed hope of a collaborative and harmonious working relationship that will lead to the growth of the entire industry for the benefit of mother Ghana.
While many focus on AI’s role in customer service chatbots or network monitoring capabilities, the underlying changes run deeper: AI will help alter how telecom services are structured, delivered and optimized. Here are our predictions for 2025.
#1: AI Will Enhance Network Intelligence
Traditional telecom networks generate massive amounts of data, but this information remains trapped in silos, limiting its utility. In 2025, a significant shift will start to occur as Large Language Models (LLMs) begin integrating across the entire telecom stack, changing how networks operate and adapt
LLM-powered systems will enhance network management through conversational interfaces, allowing administrators to interact naturally with their data. By recognizing patterns across previously disconnected data points, these systems will enable proactive maintenance and help predict network failures, reducing service interruptions. The technology will also optimize network resources automatically, using real-time usage patterns and predicted demand to improve capacity allocation and cost management.
These systems will convert raw telecom data into actionable business intelligence. Network operators will gain new insights into customer lifetime value and identify service opportunities that were previously hidden and uncorrelated in siloed data environments.
However, this advancement comes with important caveats. Network operators must carefully validate AI-generated insights, as LLMs can hallucinate with a high degree of inaccuracy. The challenge of 2025 will be striking the right balance between AI automation and human oversight in critical network operations.
#2: AI Will Enable Autonomous Network Operations
Self-healing networks will emerge in 2025 as AI takes on a larger role in network operations and performance management. Telecom providers are moving beyond basic automation toward autonomous networks that can predict, prevent and resolve issues with minimal human intervention.
The addition of AI systems, such as Agentic AI, that interact with a combination of other AI technologies including machine learning, natural language processing and automation technologies, allows decisions around network optimization and performance to be made autonomously without constant human guidance and attention. Agentic AI will make decisions and adapt to changes autonomously based on predictions and human behavior, learning and improving from these interactions as it goes to proactively solve complex network problems independently.
These types of systems mark an important shift in network management, analyzing network data to prevent potential issues or resolving issues faster and more efficiently. From identifying signaling storms to adjusting for bandwidth spikes from new device launches or fraudulent network usage, AI will optimize network performance while determining cost-effective operational strategies.
The industry acknowledges the risks in this transition. As telecom providers expand their AI capabilities, they must balance automation with transparent, unbiased decision-making that meets regulatory requirements.
#3: AI Will Reshape Telecom Economics
AI will enable new approaches to telecom pricing and delivery in 2025. Static pricing and service models are shifting toward dynamic, AI-driven systems that align with network capabilities and customer needs.
This change is evident in how telcos are adapting to bandwidth-intensive applications. Gaming illustrates the trend: as 5G networks mature, providers need pricing models suited to low-latency, high-throughput scenarios. The implications extend beyond gaming to XR (Extended Reality), enterprise services, private 5G networks, cross border plans, IoT and V2X (Vehicle to everything) deployments.
AI will guide this economic evolution by helping carriers implement responsive pricing strategies. These systems will adjust pricing based on capacity demands, service quality metrics and usage patterns, identifying revenue opportunities while optimizing network resources.
The transition moves telecoms from fixed service tiers toward flexible, value-based models. AI systems will analyze market conditions, customer behavior and network performance to spot and act on new revenue opportunities.
#4: AI Will Advance Customer Experience
AI’s role in telecommunications customer service will expand in 2025, moving beyond today’s basic chatbots. AI assistants will act as problem-solvers, analyzing usage patterns and suggesting plan adjustments based on individual needs.
These systems will graduate to addressing complex issues, including billing discrepancies, device troubleshooting and service disruptions more efficiently than current solutions. By connecting with autonomous network operations, these assistants can identify and resolve problems in a contextual, conversational, human-like interface and in most cases resolve them before customers notice them.
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) will introduce AI co-pilots that change how customers interact with their providers. These assistants, available through mobile devices, will offer immediate support without requiring traditional customer service channels. They’ll function as service advisors, using network data and economic insights to customize service recommendations.
Looking ahead
While these changes won’t fully mature by 2025, the year will mark AI’s shift from experimental to established technology in telecom infrastructure, alongside a paradigm shift from AI assisting Humans to Humans assisting AI. Success will come to organizations that grasp AI’s broader potential: moving beyond automation to reshape how telecom services are delivered.
This evolution brings challenges, from privacy concerns to data governance and AI validation requirements. Yet the benefits—improved network efficiency and personalized services—make adoption necessary.
As we approach 2025, the question becomes not whether AI will alter telecom infrastructure but how organizations will adapt to and use these capabilities to drive better business performance.
Adil Belihomji is the chief technology officer at OXIO, where he leads the technology vision and strategy for the company’s global telecom-as-a-service (TaaS) platform. He plays a pivotal role in driving product innovation while overseeing the development and implementation of technology solutions.
MTN Nigeria raises N42.20 billion through successful Series 15 and 16 Commercial Paper Issuance, supporting short-term working capital needs.
MTN Nigeria Communications PLC (MTN Nigeria or the ‘Company’) hereby notifies Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public of the successful completion of its Series 15 and 16 Commercial Paper issuance under the Company’s N250 billion Commercial Paper Issuance Programme (the ‘CP Issuance’) where the Company raised N42.20 billion.
The 180-day and 270-day CP were issued at yields of 27.50% and 29.00%, respectively, with an issue date of Monday, 23 December 2024. This follows the successful completion of two prior CP issuances in the last two months. The proceeds will be applied towards the Company’s short-term working capital requirements. MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, said, “We are grateful for the success of this transaction which underscores investor confidence in MTN Nigeria’s business model and management team.
The CP Issuance is part of our established funding strategy and would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the investor community, as well as our advisers.” Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited acted as the Arranger and Dealer while CardinalStone Partners Limited, Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited, Cordros Capital Limited, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited, Meristem Capital Limited, Quantum Zenith Capital & Investments Limited, and Vetiva Advisory Services Limited served as Joint Dealers on the transaction.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) raised antitrust concerns over Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI, warning the tie-up could provide the tech giant with an unfair advantage in the AI market.
In a wide-ranging report looking into the relationship between cloud providers and AI developers, the regulator also took aim at deals struck by Amazon and Google with AI companies such as Anthropic.
The FTC claimed such deals could lead to big tech companies gaining undue control over AI start-ups, even fully acquiring them in the future. It criticised their “circular spending” practices, where companies like Microsoft require AI start-ups to reinvest funding into their cloud services and products, skewing market power. Microsoft’s funding of OpenAI was largely delivered as credits for its Azure cloud platform.
In the report, it was also revealed that at least one unnamed tech giant received confidential financial information from an AI start-up, including weekly revenue reports and customer updates. Another deal allowed a company to access AI-generated outputs, or “synthetic data,” used to train the tech company’s own AI models.
Concerns were also raised over the potential for such partnerships to result in the monopolisation of AI talent and resources. Additionally, exclusivity rights included in some agreements might discourage AI companies from partnering with multiple cloud providers, further disrupting competition.
In a statement, FTC chair Lina Khan claimed the report uncovers “how partnerships by big tech firms can create lock-in, deprive start-ups of key AI inputs, and reveal sensitive information that can undermine fair competition”.
The European Commission also took a look at the Microsoft OpenAI partnership in 2024. However, it opted not to launch a formal investigation because it found the AI company was not under Microsoft’s direct control.
The introduction of eSIM technology is a significant development underscored by its potential impact on technology adoption, economic growth, and social inclusion in Africa. The technology simplifies user onboarding, potentially increasing the customer base and revenues for operators.
MTN South Sudan has officially launched eSIM technology to the market. The event occurred during the group’s visit to the National Communications Authority (NCA) on January 10, 2025. It marks a step in South Sudan’s telecommunications sector, with a joint press conference featuring MTN South Sudan CEO Monzer Ali and NCA Director General Napoleon Adok.
“Today marks another milestone in South Sudan’s telecommunications journey,” said Monzer Ali. “As MTN, we are proud to be the first operator in the country to launch eSIM technology. This is not just about innovation; it’s about simplifying connectivity and delivering convenience to our customers.”
An eSIM (embedded SIM) is a SIM card built into a device as a software, permanently attached to the smartphone’s motherboard. Unlike traditional SIM cards, it is programmable, enabling users to activate, deactivate, or switch networks digitally. Ideal for travelers, it allows seamless carrier switching or activation of local plans without a physical card while enhancing security and reducing the risk of damage or loss.
With eSIMs embedded directly into devices, the production and distribution of physical SIM cards become unnecessary. This eliminates the need for shipping, allowing telecom operators to reduce logistics and distribution costs.
This aligns directly with MTN’s Ambition 2025, which emphasizes operational efficiency, cost reduction, and sustainability. By adopting eSIM technology, MTN reduces expenses tied to the production, logistics, and distribution of physical SIM cards, streamlining its operations. Additionally, the move supports MTN’s environmental sustainability goals by minimizing waste and reducing the carbon footprint associated with physical SIM card manufacturing and transportation. This dual focus on efficiency and sustainability reinforces MTN’s strategy of delivering value while contributing to a greener planet.
Ghana has emerged as the leading country in the world when it comes to countries with regulatory frameworks that enable widespread mobile money adoption.
This was contained in the 2024 Mobile Money Regulatory Index (MMRI) by the GSMA, which is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem. Ghana beat 89 other countries including the likes of Brazil, Mexico, Rwanda, and Qatar to claim the top spot with a leading Index Score of “95.06” points. The other countries that rounded up the top were Rwanda (95 points), Qatar (94.21 points), Malawi (93.88 points)and El Salvador (93.75 points).
(The top 10 countries. Source: GSMA)
The breakdown
The Mobile Money Regulatory Index (MMRI) which has 6 broad dimensions, is further broken down into 40 indicators which are scored according to relevant criteria assessment. While Ghana scored a perfect 100 points in 3 of the 6 dimensions, including “Transparency and Disclosure Requirements”, “Authorisation” and “Consumer Protection”, it recorded a low figure of 83.75 points under the “PolicyEnablement” dimension due to its poor performance under the “Taxation (0 points)” indicator.
(Source: GSMA)
Impact of the E-Levy
A further interrogation of the data showed that the presence of discriminatory taxation (mobile-specific taxes) imposed on mobile money services in Ghana impacted the score recorded under the “Taxation (0 points)” indicator. The absence of the E-Levy and any other discriminatory taxes on mobile money would have led to Ghana being awarded 100 points which would have seen the country’s world-leading score of 95.06 points rise further.
The Index
According to the GSMA, the Mobile Money Regulatory Index was first developed in 2018 to provide a non-binary and objective assessment of the extent to which regulatory frameworks enable mobile money services to thrive. Until 2021, the index was comprised of 28 indicators clustered in six dimensions, with each indicator scored based on both qualitative and quantitative scoring metrics.
The key regulation issues forecast to be top of mind in 2025 include artificial intelligence, data protection, the digital economy, digital public infrastructure, and competition.
(Source: https://www.menosfios.com/)
As the new year gets underway, technology and its related business environment will be characterized by numerous policy and regulatory discussions around the need to address ongoing and emerging issues, either through revisions to existing frameworks or the formulation of new measures and approaches to market regulation.
With the ongoing evolution of technology and the changing complexion of the marketplace, there is a need to provide an enabling environment in which innovation, consumer and business interests are protected, while at the same time appreciating that such deliberations and resulting actions can never really define any end games for a sector that is constantly in flux.
Some of the key issues that will occupy discussions among policy makers, regulators, civil society and the business community include artificial intelligence (AI), the digital economy, digital public infrastructure (DPI), data protection, and competition.
To a lesser but equally crucial extent, ongoing discussions on improving data protection, social media and cybersecurity frameworks can be expected to continue.
Artificial intelligence
AI regulation was one of the areas of key focus across the continent in 2024.
Two main sides emerged – one was against regulation, reasoning that regulating AI would stifle innovation and slow adoption. The other side looked beyond innovation and adoption and viewing AI through a consumer protection lens, looking at the possible harmful and ethical issues relating to AI.
While there have been huge advances and greater adoption of AI across different sectors – with some already demonstrating tangible benefits – AI has also brought with it unsavory application areas. These include using AI as a tool to enable cybercrime (for financial fraud, phishing and social engineering) as well as in the social and political space with misuse intended to spread falsehoods and misinformation via AI altered text, images or videos.
AI regulation will still be a key focus across the continent in 2025. (Source: Image by DC Studio on Freepik)
Existing laws relating to data protection and privacy, cybersecurity, and misuse of computers and intellectual property, have been useful in the interim as a framework to address some of these areas, but in most cases they are not explicit enough to tackle these problems squarely and with any degree of finality.
At a continental level, AI has been discussed at the Africa Union (AU), where a draft policy was published in 2024, with several countries already making individual pronouncements in the form of sector guidelines.
Looking ahead, the way forward will very likely be paved with soft regulations that take the form of guiding principles to which all stakeholders must adhere, while at the same time continuing to draw on or amend existing regulations.
The steady march by business and consumers into the digital sphere, as well as the need to address the requirements of tech-savvy consumers who require new channels to transact, is bringing about the gradual realization of digital economies, with more and more organizations undergoing digital transformation.
One natural consequence of the shift into virtual spaces is the need to ensure tax collection is not affected; authorities are continuing to explore modalities that allow them visibility over the amount of business that happens online.
This has necessitated different measures to gain visibility over business that happens online. Current measures include the onerous task of conducting audits of business and individuals using different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as e-commerce platforms, as well as compelling providers (including telcos, streaming services and platform providers) to add levies to their subscription fees, in order to reduce the administrative load on revenue authorities.
In some cases, sizing up the digital space has involved working with payment gateway operators who have good visibility over such transactions between businesses and consumers.
Broadly speaking, the legal framework on which digital economies can be enabled includes laws, polices and guidelines that touch on taxation, data protection and privacy, intellectual property and social media use.
During 2024, several African countries adopted different approaches to handing the digital economy, and it can be expected that, during 2025, these measures and existing laws will undergo further streamlining, amendment and harmonization.
Digital public infrastructure (DPI)
While DPI is still largely nascent, the push by governments and multilateral development agencies (whose ambitions relate to closing the digital divide and supporting transparency, among other areas) is something that will merit a review of existing laws.
Many have bearing on how DPI can be enabled since DPI inherently raises concerns about data protection, fraud, freedom of information, mobile payment regulation, digital identities and infrastructure sharing.
Thus, it can be expected that discussions on implementing DPI will pick up pace as different stakeholders explore modalities on how this can be leveraged to deliver services to citizens.
Competition
The move by satellite providers in different countries into the connectivity space is being met with some degree of consternation by some local Internet service providers and mobile operators, who mostly claim it makes the playing field uneven for them, with some indicating that such players are not subjected to the same regulatory oversight as local players.
In some cases, local players are the ones who have taken the initiative to strike deals with satellite operators who offer direct to mobile connectivity arrangements that allow them to plug voice and data coverage gaps and reduce their infrastructure spending.
Between 2023 and 2024, players like Starlink gradually increased their footprint across Africa, though it has not been easy sailing in some markets where regulations either require local ownership or the requirement to work with channel partners through whom authorities can gain visibility on operations for the sake of taxation and consumer protection issues.
It should be noted that, at the outset, satellite players were indulged on the premise that they could help address rural coverage.
However, as has been noted in many countries, urban areas have been the focus for the simple reason that affordability is an issue in most rural areas.
As such, most new subscribers are in urban areas, which has unseated that premise about closing the rural digital divide.
Between 2023 and 2024, Starlink gradually increased its footprint across Africa but also faced challenges. (Source: Starlink)
In 2025, it can be expected that regulators will move to respond to concerns by local players, by introducing new licenses as well as ensuring such players are compliant with pricing guidelines set out.
It can also be expected that discussions by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on spectrum, rural connectivity, etc. may have some bearing on how these players operate.
Data protection
In 2024, only 36 out of 54 African countries had enacted data protection laws.
At a continental level, despite the Malabo Convention (on cybersecurity and data protection) being adopted more than a decade ago, when it came into force on June 8, 2023, only 15 AU countries had ratified it, limiting its continental credibility. This itself hampers efforts at harmonizing data protection laws as well as limiting collaboration on cybersecurity.
Data protection concerns keep morphing and will remain on the horizon for quite a while.
Ongoing digital transformation, including by government entities, coupled with new business channels, mobile applications, and know-your-customer (KYC) principles by financial institutions are among other areas that will keep data protection in focus.
It can be expected that this convention will be reprised at the AU during 2025 as individual countries continue to address data protection.
Spectrum costs
It should be expected that spectrum costs will be among the areas up for discussions, in some cases based on lessons learned from 5G spectrum auctions for which many operators have yet to realize returns on investments.
Therefore, pricing at auctions may require a review based on market realities and the potential exploitation of spectrum for different applications.
The spectrum gravy train may not have dried up yet, but it has certainly slowed down.
Cybersecurity
Just like data protection, cybersecurity is a constant feature in the ICT landscape in Africa.
With more and more cyberattacks registered in 2024, a good part of discussions on policy and regulation will invariably feature cybersecurity in 2025 because the risks are not bound by borders and threat actors can be either in African countries or outside of them.
The need to enable collaboration across the continent and globally will underpin discussions on cybersecurity in 2025.
Apple reportedly stopped notifications of summaries from news and entertainment apps offered as part of its iOS 18.3 developer beta release after some instances of mischaracterisation.
9to5Mac reported the Apple Intelligence-powered news and entertainment notifications would be resumed once the vendor updates its software.
Apple is reportedly also making it clear the notifications are a beta and could contain errors.
9to5Mac noted Apple would allow users to disable notification summaries from the Lock Screen or notification centre in iOS 18.3.
Apple also intends to italicise the summaries to differentiate them from standard notifications.
The Guardian reported BBC News filed a formal complaint with Apple in December 2024 after the notification feature inaccurately summarised various of its stories.
Operator 3 UK agreed a deal with Ericsson for the vendor to deliver a next-generation cloud-native packet core network which it believes will be the largest in Europe, as it bids to respond to huge recent increases in data usage.
The UK telecoms company stated the core network would be powered by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G product and run on its cloud native infrastructure.
It will sit on 3’s nationwide distributed data centre offering, which “brings its core network closer to customers”.
The operator is embroiled in a process to merge with local rival Vodafone UK, with the deal expected to complete at some point in the first half of this year.
Tsunami 3 stated data usage “exploded” in recent years, surpassing 2Tb/s in December 2024 due to streaming of Premier League football and gaming updates.
Interestingly, it revealed the feat comes around two years after its network hit 1Tb/s for the first time, a milestone which took two decades to reach.
Aside from coping with data demand, Ericsson said its core network capabilities will help 3 scale capacity growth to support future needs; enhance stability with less downtime; offer greater network insights; provide in-service software upgrades; and enhance environmental performance.
The infrastructure and core network are already installed in 3 UK’s data centres and will be partially operational by the end of the year, with careful migration of all traffic over the next few years.
Iain Milligan, chief network officer at 3, said the last few years had seen a tsunami of data growth, with traffic at peak times doubling in a little over two years.
“Our new core network with Ericsson ensures we are able to support our customers’ data usage over the medium and long-term.”
